Sydney teen lured to NYC over Snapchat by convicted killer

Published: 19 May 2017

A Sydney teenager who disappeared from one of the city’s most affluent suburbs last month has been rescued from a convicted killer.

Police say American man Sean Price 39, used the popular app Snapchat to persuade the 16-year-old to board a plane and travel to the United States for sex.

Mr Price was convicted in 1995 for negligent homicide.

According to reports he received nude images of the teenage girl before transferring her $2000 for a plane ticket to Los Angeles.

Once she arrived, Mr Price hired a car and drove the teenager across the country to New York City, US police believe.

The New York Daily News reported that the pair engaged in sexual acts along the way.

The publication is also reporting that the 16-year-old, who is believed to have been suffering anxiety and was having problems at home, was later found by NYPD officers in the basement of Mr Price’s mother’s home.

It is understood the pair tried to flee through the back door before hiding in the basement.

NSW Police were alerted to the teenager’s disappearance from her Lindfield home on April 11, before a police investigation determined that the teenager had left the country and travelled to the US.

“Collaboration between the Australian Federal Police and US law enforcement officials led to the girl being located in New York State in the company of a 39-year-old man on Friday, 12 May,” a police spokesperson said.

“The man was arrested and charged with a number of offences relating to his conduct and interactions with the girl and will face court action in the US.”

Mr Price was refused bail in a Brooklyn court and has been remanded in custody.